The knee-jerk response to cost-reduction pressures in an economic downturn is turn up the heat to wring greater productivity out of your work force. This is not your best option, and will hurt more than help.

A smarter approach is to get more out of your people by tapping into what people really care about, in all parts of their lives. When you do this -- for real, not just as window dressing for some faux social welfare program -- you not only reduce stress, you decrease time wasted on activities that don't matter, boost trust with the company, and build resilience.

Contrast these three approaches you might take as a manager of a solid performer when times are tough:

"Hey Sarah, we're having a bad year, so if you want any kind of bonus at all, you're going to have to suck it up and work harder than ever before. Sorry, I know it's tough, but that's just the reality."

Joel DeLuca, the noted author and lecturer on leadership and organizational behavior, passed away a couple of weeks ago, at 60. I am grateful for the chance to offer a few observations about the impact that he had on the world, and on me.

I had the great fortune of meeting Joel, in the early '90s, when he came to Wharton to help me build the Wharton Leadership Program, of which I was the founding director. It was immediately apparent, from our first conversation and ever-increasingly thereafter, that Joel's genius as a master designer of remarkably high-value, long-lasting learning experiences was a rare, precious gift.

As much as I learned from his highly refined wisdom as a practical theorist and educator, I gained even more knowledge from seeing how Joel actually lived in concert with his ideas for how to create meaningful change. His masterwork is a book called Political Savvy: Leadership Behind the Scenes.

For the past couple of years, I've had the good fortune of speaking at the Broad Advantage conference in New York. Part of Janet Hanson's amazing organization, 85 Broads, this weeklong program offers an array of speakers and experiences for about 100 college women who are interested in business careers.

A few days ago I asked each member of this year's group to sketch and then describe to the rest of us her personal leadership vision--a compelling image of an achievable future. Leadership vision is an essential means for focusing attention on what matters most; what you want to accomplish in your life and what kind of leader you wish to be. A useful vision has to be rooted in your past, address the future, and deal with today's realities. It represents who you are and what you stand for. It inspires you, and the people whose commitment you need, to act to make constructive change towards a future you all want to see.